Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 114-10.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of the House passed version is repeated here.)
Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 TITLE I--SGR REPEAL AND MEDICARE PROVIDER PAYMENT MODERNIZATION (Sec. 101) Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to: (1) remove sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology from the determination of annual conversion factors in the formula for payment for physicians' services, and (2) revise the update in rates for 2015 and subsequent years.
Requires two separate conversion factors for each year beginning with 2026, one for items and services furnished by a qualifying alternative payment model (APM) participant (qualifying APM conversion factor), and the other for other items and services (nonqualifying APM conversion factor).
Freezes the update to the single conversion factor at 0.0% for January through June 2015.
Sets the same update at 0.5% for July1 through December 31, 2015, as well as for 2016 through 2019, then reduces it to 0.00% for 2020 through 2025.
Sets the update to the qualifying APM conversion factor at 0.75%, and the update to the nonqualifying APM conversion factor at .0.25%, for 2026 and each subsequent year.
Directs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) to report to Congress on the relationship between: (1) physician and other health professional utilization and expenditures (and their rate of increase) of items and services for which Medicare payment is made; and (2) total utilization and expenditures (and their rate of increase) under Medicare parts A (Hospital Insurance), B (Supplementary Medical Insurance), and D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program). Requires a separate report on the 2015-2019 update to physicians' services under Medicare.
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to consolidate components of the three specified existing performance incentive programs into a new Merit-based Incentive Payment (MIP) system under which eligible professionals (including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and certified registered nurse anesthetists, but excluding most APM participants) shall receive annual payment increases or decreases based on their performance as measured by standards the Secretary shall establish according to specified criteria.
The summary continues for 96 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on April 16, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on April 16, 2015: Became Public Law No: 114-10.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Michael Burgess (R-TX) introduced it on March 24, 2015, and 13 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 6 Democrats, 7 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HousePassed
- SenatePassed
- PresidentSigned into law